By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Even before the groundbreaking in September 2022 for the new police station in Great Bend, city officials were figuring out what to do with the vacated space of the old station on Williams. Now that the police department and municipal court staff have moved over to the $9 million Justice Center at 12th Street and Baker Avenue, Great Bend has developed plans to repurpose the old police station.
Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said for approximately $40,000, the city can renovate the building to create office space and fix a sewer issue.
"If you remember upstairs, there's that column right out in the middle," said Burns. "There is PVC on the sewer piper above there but everything below that is cast iron. When we did the smoke test, that was cracked all the way up. That's probably where a lot of the smell was coming from."
The largest renovation cost estimate is $14,000 for new flooring in the 7,500-square-foot structure. Great Bend plans for $8,000 in ADA upgrades, $3,000 for painting and $3,000 to knock out a few walls. The building would allow office space for the inspection, property maintenance and public lands departments.
Burns said the plan does not make use of the upstairs and there is consideration for a demo project on the awkwardly-designed upper level.
"Doing all of this on one floor would save on utilities," said Burns. "The furnace and the AC that runs the upstairs is already a 90% unit. That's something we'd keep that space conditioned at a minimal level. This will be going from a 24/7 operation (police station) down to a 40-hour work week. So we'll save on utilities at that point as well."
During a work session last week, the Great Bend City Council was in agreement to keep moving forward with the transformation.